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Setting Standards for Pediatric Care

Whole body hypothermia provides cerebral (brain) protection for newborns affected by hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). This complication occurs when there is a reduced level of oxygen (hypoxia) or blood flow (ischemia) to the baby's brain or body.

About this Treatment

Whole-body cooling places newborns on a water-filled cooling mattress to reduce body temperature to 92F for three days, which is long enough to interrupt brain injury. After the three days, your baby recovers to a normal body temperature in our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with continuous EEG (electroencephalogram) neuromonitoring.Our cooling program follows the National Institute of Health’s Neonatal Network protocol, which demonstrates a reduction in death or serious disability for infants who develop serious neonatal encephalopathy within 6 hours of birth.

Children's Team

Providers

Billie Short, MD, is the chief of the Division of Neonatology and the chief of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Dr. Short also is the Executive Director of the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Program (ECMO).

Treatment Service Locations

Departments

The Neonatal Neurology and Neurocritical Care Program at Children’s National is the only one of its kind in the mid-Atlantic region and a leader in advancing neurologic care to some of our most critically ill newborns.

Whether your infant has arrived prematurely or has a critical illness, the Children’s National team assists in coordinating every service you and your baby need, including consultations, assessments, emergency treatments, and continuing care.